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Burnt Man
=The Burnt Man= The Burnt Man is like something akin to faerie, god, and undead, although not entirely any of those. He is closest in nature to Fae, however, seeming to be unto a Fae which has incorporated aspects of Godhood into itself, and been enamoured of the Dead and tales of magnificent curses. Even legendary Talespinner, who has engaged the Burnt Man in battle on numerous occasions, is unable to discern his precise nature, though he infers that it is most likely to be (mostly) Fae, owing to the nature of the Burnt Man's marauding hordes being Goblins who take the form of various undead and other spooks. Once, years ago, the Burnt Man lived in the Cursed Trading Village (before it was cursed,) alongside the other residents. Although odder than most, and trade villages do attract odd characters, he got along well enough. Then the Wyld Hunt showed up, killed a lot of people until they beat the location he was hiding out of a townsman, and came for him. He is said to have raised the dead to fight for him, but the Wyld Hunt jacked him up anyway, burning him at the stake. He cursed the village and it's faithless inhabitants, as well as those who murdered him. (It is unknown what ill fate, if any, they have suffered, as unlike the townsfolk, they are not ripped back to the village on Calibration.) Every first and last day of the ordinary months, the Burnt Man's raiders attack, but the nightmare really comes alive during the Five Days' Darkness of Calibration. During this time the attacks are intense and coordinated - instead of a few spooks an hour showing up randomly, on these nights the town comes alive with the cackling calls of marauding haunts, who rush through the streets, vandalizing and smashing, attempting to kill and plunder and pillage, though without aim. Their main cause seems to be sowing discord as they rush about in small, unorganized bands, hacking, chopping, smashing, blasting, and generally being determined to have a good time at everyone else's expense. The Burnt Man himself leads them, in a different form each night, his forces approaching from a different direction on each night, but always unique in appearance and power. If the Burnt Man is slain or otherwise defeated, the attacks cease for that night. Talespinner is certain that if the Burnt Man is dealt with on five nights consecutively, he will be vanquished forever, his curse lifted. Talespinner has attempted to do this, but has never been able to go five-for-five with the Burnt Man. Common Spooks Headless Horsemen These nasty, skeletal cavalrymen have no heads, and they ride horses which also have no heads, and their bodies cease to be flesh at the hindquarters, leaving only skeletal rear legs and tails. They wield lances from horseback, and are as dangerous as any heavy cavalry in a charge, but unhorsed they can only clumsily swing their lances or strike with their bony fists. *Strengths: Open field combat, speed, Heavy Armor. *Weaknesses: They suffer Bashing damage as Aggrevated. They cannot or will not enter any enclosed structure, escape is as easy as entering a building. Pumpkin Heads Dancing, straw-stuffed scarecrows with orange gourds for heads, carved into fearsome visages and lit with flames from within, these Pumpkin Heads dance around on legs of wooden poles. Their limbs also terminate in poles, but they tend to have pitchforks affixed with which they may make melee attacks. However, their strength lies in their ability to snatch the pumpkin off their very own shoulders and launch it at great velocity and distance with the fork; whereupon it lands and explodes in a burst of very hot gourd flesh. *Strengths: Long-range, lobbed area of effect attack, takes a lot of whooping to bring down something made of straw and wood, and can set their pitchforks against mounted charges, gaining a strike-first counterattack. *Weaknesses: Catch fire very easily and burn up in mere moments - any attack augmented with fire is Aggrevated to them, and deals it's own damage additionally every tick until dead. Automatically fail any Atheletics check they are called upon to retain their balance. Skeletal Swashbucklers Only seen on the Second Night and after, these scurvy swabs sail up to the town (which becomes a coastal town for the night) and soften it up with artillery as they swarm ashore. They run through the town at a very fast clip, swinging chopping swords and shooting at people with firewands that shoot out long-ranged bursts of ghostly energy, albiet without much accuracy. They thrive on causing havok, and are motivated by plunder. *Strengths: Speed, strong direct ranged attack, numbers, high War skill for forming into units or coordinated volleys. *Weaknesses: Suffer Bashing damage as Aggrevated, easily distracted by plunder, will fall on each other out of greed. Screaming Puppeteers These especially dangerous dementators are capable of flying and passing through walls, and only appear on and after the Third Night. They have a strong, screaming attack that they can focus into a blast, and can possess people. In form they are generally inconsistant, blue figures surrounded by a haze of vauge blue fog, through which a vaugely-feminine form may be seen. They are considered very dangerous, but song is anathema to them; singing hinders their ability to possess a host, and can force them out. Strong enough song can even keep them at bay, and a truely skilled singer's performance can cause them grevious harm. They can also suck motes of Essence directly from Essence users. *Strengths: Flight, passwall ability, powerful direct ranged attack, Essence Siphon. *Weaknesses: Not incorporeal, singing hinders everything they do; each success on a performer's Sing check penalizes them by -1 to all actions and defense values. If their DMDV or PMDV reach 0, additional singing successes inflict levels of aggrevated health damage. Every offensive action they may take is Shaping, so Integrety-Protecting Prana is essentially a Daylong Perpetual Passive Perfect Defense against them. Patchwerk Horrors Lumbering undead (or so it would seem) stitched together from the bodies of countless victims, Patchwerks weild enormous meathooks and meat cleavers in battle, and arrive from the South on the Third Night of Calibration. They stand as tall as two-story buildings, and the flailing of numerous secondary arms and limbs ending in pointy bits around them make surrounding them as dangerous a prospect for the would-be attackers as for the defender. Their guts are rent open, exposing their bowels and the gaping hole is surrounded by jagged ribs of bone, and their tiny, beady-eyed heads are connected to their lower backs via a long, flexible metal tube. *Strengths: Strong and large as a warstrider, dangerous simply to be adjacent to, can destroy gates and guard towers with ease. *Weaknesses: Share all Warstrider weaknesses, Valor 1 in the face of Exalted and other Heroes, can be instantly slain if a brave enough hero climbs it's back and rips out the tube. Cannibals Thankfully only appearing on and after the Fourth Night, with completely pale flesh pierced and tatooed, these swarm up to the village in canoes which sail through the earth, firing flaming arrows and wielding axes equally suited for throwing and chopping. Seeking to spread carnage and terror, they are motivated by a hunger to consume flesh, which is only rivaled by their superior hatred of all the other forms of horrors that show up, preferring to kill and consume them over living targets. *Strengths: Vast Numbers, high War skill for forming into Mass Combat Units and launching coordinated attacks, may sail their canoes over walls and buildings. Can consume the fallen to regenerate themselves and gain bonus strength. *Weaknesses: Not durable, no special defenses, will prefer to attack other horrors instead of living people. Will stop to consume anyone who falls down, dead or otherwise, leaving them open to unexpected attacks. Funeral Spiders Large insectoid monsters, with humanoid torso and spider bodies below, as large and as fast as cavalry, stalk from the Hedgerow Country on the Fourth Night and beyond, quickly crossing terrain and climbing up walls and towers, or sending the spiders which crawl all over and inside their dessicated bodies to swarm over their enemies for them. Monstrously durable, they can take a hell of a pounding, killing people to spin them up in web cocoons. Strengths: Strong ranged attack, fast, very durable, can project webs and climb structures. Weaknesses: Weak melee, clumsy in close quarters, ranged attack depends on traveling over surface, so vertical range is very limited, always stop to cocoon the fallen, even their own. Scorched Corpses Only appearing on the fifth night, these miserable wretches appear to be men and women burnt to death yet unable to die, wielding burning clubs. Though very weak, they appear in great quantities. *Strengths: Numbers. Lots of numbers, and they attract more of them own - diminished Mass Combat units of Scorched Corpses regenerate Magnitude as more of their kind claw up from the earth to replace the fallen. *Weaknesses: Are for all intents and purposes Extras. The First Night On the first night of Calibration, the Burnt Man and his armies approach from the East. On the first night, the only forces arrayed against the village are his cavalry and Pumpkin Heads. Their strategy is always the same, simple and effective - assail the town, with the Pumpkin Heads clearing out the towers by launching their pumpkins at them - though the roofed towers offer considerable protection against indirect ranged attacks, eventually they will be forced to take cover, allowing the Horsemen to batter down the gates. Then the armies surge into the town, aimlessly dashing to and fro, with the Horsemen attempting to run down anyone they catch on the streets, and Pumpkins tossing their heads into buildings and towers. The Burnt Horseman The Burnt Man himself appears as a Horseman on the First Night as well - dressed in a long-coat and frock shirt of some noble bearing, wielding two sabers from horseback. He rides a steed which mostly seems to be a normal horse, but below the knees are only skeletal limbs, wreathed in green flame, and it's eye sockets are pools of green flame as well. The horse is known to be able to fly, galloping straight up and down through the air as if on solid land - if his army fails to breach the walls expediently enough, the Burnt Horseman will gallop over the walls and unbar the gates, using his immunity to mortal arrows and ranged attacks to do so with impunity. Once through the gates, he behaves much like his horsemen, except that he cannot be unhorsed unwillingly, and does not hesitate to enter buildings in pursuit of prey. He, too, lacks a head, having only a pair of ghostly green eyes floating above his neck - those he kills, he beheads, and he attempts to fit their heads to his neck, but he inevitably fails, and so discards the head, looking for yet another to try. *Strengths: Cannot be unwillingly unhorsed, extremely fast, flight, Horse is invunerable. *Weaknesses: No ranged attack, must take the time to stop and decapitate his victims to try their heads on, unarmored. The Second Night On the Second Night of Calibration, the changes become obvious well before sun-down, with the plain to the north becoming a deep-water harbor, gradually the ground falling away in a vast swath, exposed to the Yellow River, and the village essentially becomes a coastal one for all intents and purposes. A strange vessel unlike any type known today to ply any waters of Creation sails up this new sea just after sundown, a very tall vessel with very, very tall masts and complicated rigging incorporating both broad sails and triangular cloths. The vessel bombards the town with broadsides - from abominally long range, powerful explosions can be heard from the side of the vessel, accompanied by green flashes. Green streaks of light fly from the sides of the vessel, some direct, impacting the palisade wall, and others indirect, sailing up and over the walls, landing randomly in the town. The direct balls explode with phenomenal strength, while the indirect balls explode less fiercely, but leave green glowing clouds which linger, stinking of rot, causing flesh caught within them to wither and wild, and metal to corrode. After this treatment, most of the crew piles off the ship, getting into boats or swimming ashore - skeleton pirates accompanied by pumpkin-heads, with the odd boatful of headless horsemen cavalry. The ship continues to fire, though much more slowly, as it's crew is vastly reduced. Captain Burnbossa Naturally, the Burnt Man takes the form of the pirate captain. A fearsome giant of a grizzled, bearded man with a large hat, he stalks heavily about on one peg-leg, swinging a titanic cutlass, easily capable of cleaving through several men at once, carrying several braces of pistols which fire smaller versions of the life-vanquishing shots his ships' cannons fire, like his crew, as well as a blunderbuss which fires one large shot, and has an undead monkey familar. *Strengths: Magnificently strong ranged and melee attacks, multi-target melee attack without penalty, Monkey provides support by being able to fire his pistols from his shoulder, good Parry DV, incredible War attribute, ability to force perfect discipline upon Skeletal Swashbucklers. *Weaknesses: Slow, unarmored, only one melee attack per round, poor Dodge DV, no Parry DV if forced into melee with ranged weapons in his hands. The Third Night The Third Night is the night of the screaming dead. On the third night of Calibration, just after sundown, a great light can be seen on the southerly horizon. As this light approaches, it proves that it is a giant pack of flying, vaugely-formed spirits on the horizon. They encircle the town, flying down towards it to wreak mayhem and bedlam - possessing random people, blowing people and things apart with their Shaping Screech. They are not immune to arrows or swords, however, despite being able to fly through walls. Worse, however, is that eventually the cavalry rumbles up to the city. Gigantic Patchwerk Abominations, very alike to the unliving siege engines the Death Knights would employ, rumble up to the city, battering the gates down to admit themselves and scattered units of the previously-encountered Headless Horsemen, Pumpkin Heads, and Skeletal Swashbucklers. The Burning Necromancer On the Third Night, the Burnt Man appears as a large, transparnt skeletal figure hovering through the streets, bound up in solid armor and necromantic raimants. He can siphon Essence from everything and everyone around him, including breaking his own minions to do so. A powerful spellcasting monster, this form of the Burnt Man has the strongest actual connection to that which is undead, being an active necromancer. *Strengths: Very durable, Semi-incorporeality and hard artifact armor give him very strong Dodge defenses against being beaten down physically. Powerful spellcaster, weilding death and cold with equal adroitness. Can regain Essence by siphoning it from all around himself, and destroying his minions. Can summon any of his minion types to his side. Cannot be interrupted during spellcasting. *Weaknesses: Cannot or will not go indoors. Incapable of or unwilling to selectively target his attacks. No melee or direct, single-target ranged attacks. All of his actions have a high Speed. Low velocity through town. Vulnerable to strong acts of faith or other displays/attacks which are effective against the undead. No Parry Defense whatsoever. The Fourth Night On the Fourth Night, the attacks come from the West. Seeping out of the Hedgerow countries are huge spider-men, as big as horses and riders together, and canoes full of ferocious cannibal savages that sail as easily through land and over walls as a regular canoe would through water. Though the cannibals are ferocious and hunt in packs, the Funeral Spiders are more solitary - but stronger. The Cannibals however, seem to bear an unusual emnity for all the other forms of the spooks found in the town - they will even attack them over living targets, though they will not break engagement with living targets to attack other haunts. Clever humans may lead Cannibal raiding parties to other instances of the dead, to get them to engage one another. The Burnt Brave Riding into battle atop a bareback steed of pure white - even it's hooves and eyes - and wielding a gigantic bow with which he launches flaming arrows, this incarnation of the burning man is hunting scalps. He doesn't seem to take much notice of the cannibals he arrives with, and they ignore him - he does not have to stop what he's doing to consume the fallen, being perfectly willing to wait until the immediate battle is over to scalp his fallen enemies. Though he carries an axe and a knife, he will not enter buildings - but, being that he carries flaming arrows, this is little defense against him. *Strengths: Superior personal combatant, skilled at long range archery, close range thrown with axe, and melee with axe and knife, wields potent defensive, offensive, and devious charms in battle, as well as having a horse. *Weaknesses: Unarmored, horse is far from invunerable, no Surprise Negation The Fifth Night All Malfeas, Underworld, and Wyld breaks loose on the fifth night. No longer do the assailants lay siege to the town - now they claw their way up through the earth in the streets, emerge from cellars, and fly down from a massive cloud above the city. Their numbers are greatly superior, moving about in mobs and formations instead of small units. They cannot surface within the area immediately around the town hall, but this is of little comfort. Everything and anything that could have been found in nights past shows up this time, and in great numbers. The Burnt Man The Man himself appears this time. He appears as a tall, slender man of pale skin, stripped naked, tortured, and strapped to a stake which is burning - this he carries around on his back as he leads a large unit of Scorched Corpses on a rampage. *Strengths: He's leading a small army of burnt corpses. Good melee, lots and lots of regenerating ablative meat surrounding him, fairly durable *Weaknesses: No ranged attack, and his army does not share his personal invunerability to mortal ranged attacks. Category:CotUS NPCs